Cable Television Laboratories Inc. has bestowed the stamp of interoperability
on 23 cable modems and five cable-modem-termination systems following
certification wave 17, the largest conducted so far.
All of those products were certified and qualified for the 1.0 version of the
Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. To date, CableLabs has yet to
give its seal of approval to products based on the more complicated DOCSIS 1.1
spec, which serves as the underpinnings of the
voice-over-Internet-protocol-targeted PacketCable platform.
CableLabs said it will continue to test DOCSIS 1.1 gear on an ongoing basis.
Certification wave 18 is expected to start on or around April 16, and it will
test both 1.0 and 1.1 equipment.
CableLabs -- which has scheduled a total of four certification waves for 2001
-- is in the process of verifying third-party DOCSIS-testing bodies to lighten
its load.
On the cable-modem front, six new vendors broke through the CableLabs
certification process with passing grades for the first time: Castlenet, Dakos,
Global Teleman, Matsushita Consumer Electronics, Scientific-Atlanta Inc. and
Texas Instruments Inc. CableLabs also recertified cable modems from 11 other
manufacturers.
Tellabs Inc., meanwhile, became the latest headend-gear vendor to join the
DOCSIS 1.0 qualified list. CableLabs also requalified CMTS gear from Arris
Interactive LLC, Cisco Systems Inc., Riverstone Networks Inc. and Terayon
Communication Systems Inc.
In all, CableLabs has green-lighted 130 DOCSIS 1.0 devices, including 22
CMTS.
